Online portal helps parents keep track of kids' grades

Published: Monday, November 1, 2010 at 4:31 p.m.

Last Modified: Monday, November 1, 2010 at 9:41 p.m.

Area school administrators say an online portal for parents is the perfect gateway for adults to monitor their child's grades in today's fast-paced world.

Facts

Parent portal

Currently: Allows parents view-only access to their child's grades in all subjects.

In January: Officials hope to add links to individual attendance and FCAT scores.

For 2011-12: Add student access accounts.

Goal: To become a one-stop community where parents can stay updated on every facet of the child's education and communicate with teachers more effectively.

The portal opened in August and allows parents to monitor a child's progress in all subjects. Educators say it is a valuable motivating tool.

The hope is that the portal will become a one-stop site for parents to monitor not just grades, but all aspects of their child's education.

In January, officials will add new links — individual attendance and Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test scores. For the 2011-12 school year, officials will issue individual log-in accounts for students in all grades.

Access is key to holding students and parents accountable, administrators believe.

John McCollum III, principal at both Eighth Street Elementary and Osceola Middle schools, has been encouraging parents to allow student access.

"I encourage my students to log on with their parents," said McCollum, adding the site will encourage parent/child discussions on a regular basis.

Scott Hansen, the School District's director of technology information systems, said the view-only portal cannot be altered. It is solely an information tool for parents. He said he hopes to conduct a student access pilot program in the spring to get feedback about potential problems or bugs within the system.

To gain access to the portal, parents must go to their child's school to enroll and must provide photo identification. They receive a password and a portal link. The reason parents must be verified in person is to maintain tight security for the privacy of the children.

A parent with children in more than one school only has to go to one of those facilities to register all of their children.

So far, there have been 6,027 accounts established for 8,077 students, or roughly 20 percent of the county's student population.

That's a little more than the district expected in the first nine weeks of 2010-11, Superintendent of Schools Jim Yancey said recently.

"I have been getting e-mails from students wanting to know how they can get access" so they can see what their parents are viewing, Yancey said.

McCollum said he is disappointed that only one in five students is being monitored by their parents. He said he had hoped to see more parents take an active role and hopes the number will grow rapidly in coming months.

McCollum said he promoted the portal recently during an open house. He also tells parents about the portal when they arrive on campus for conferences or to pick up a child.

The veteran principal said the biggest problem so far has been that parents get the information and password, then wait too long to actually go online to register. The password times out after several weeks if the parent waits too long, meaning they have to go back to the school to begin the process again.

McCollum also hopes the portal will cut down on parent phone calls after report cards are sent home on Friday. He said parents often call and say they had no idea their child was doing so poorly and would have done something much sooner if they had known.

Now if he gets the call, he said, he "can tell them about the parent portal" in hopes they will get more involved in their child's education.

McCollum has been telling parents who do not have online access at home that they can check grades at the public library or on break at work.

<p>Area school administrators say an online portal for parents is the perfect gateway for adults to monitor their child's grades in today's fast-paced world.</p><p>The portal opened in August and allows parents to monitor a child's progress in all subjects. Educators say it is a valuable motivating tool.</p><p>The hope is that the portal will become a one-stop site for parents to monitor not just grades, but all aspects of their child's education.</p><p>In January, officials will add new links — individual attendance and Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test scores. For the 2011-12 school year, officials will issue individual log-in accounts for students in all grades.</p><p>Access is key to holding students and parents accountable, administrators believe.</p><p>John McCollum III, principal at both Eighth Street Elementary and Osceola Middle schools, has been encouraging parents to allow student access.</p><p>"I encourage my students to log on with their parents," said McCollum, adding the site will encourage parent/child discussions on a regular basis.</p><p>Scott Hansen, the School District's director of technology information systems, said the view-only portal cannot be altered. It is solely an information tool for parents. He said he hopes to conduct a student access pilot program in the spring to get feedback about potential problems or bugs within the system.</p><p>To gain access to the portal, parents must go to their child's school to enroll and must provide photo identification. They receive a password and a portal link. The reason parents must be verified in person is to maintain tight security for the privacy of the children.</p><p>A parent with children in more than one school only has to go to one of those facilities to register all of their children.</p><p>So far, there have been 6,027 accounts established for 8,077 students, or roughly 20 percent of the county's student population.</p><p>That's a little more than the district expected in the first nine weeks of 2010-11, Superintendent of Schools Jim Yancey said recently.</p><p>"I have been getting e-mails from students wanting to know how they can get access" so they can see what their parents are viewing, Yancey said.</p><p>McCollum said he is disappointed that only one in five students is being monitored by their parents. He said he had hoped to see more parents take an active role and hopes the number will grow rapidly in coming months.</p><p>McCollum said he promoted the portal recently during an open house. He also tells parents about the portal when they arrive on campus for conferences or to pick up a child.</p><p>The veteran principal said the biggest problem so far has been that parents get the information and password, then wait too long to actually go online to register. The password times out after several weeks if the parent waits too long, meaning they have to go back to the school to begin the process again.</p><p>McCollum also hopes the portal will cut down on parent phone calls after report cards are sent home on Friday. He said parents often call and say they had no idea their child was doing so poorly and would have done something much sooner if they had known.</p><p>Now if he gets the call, he said, he "can tell them about the parent portal" in hopes they will get more involved in their child's education.</p><p>McCollum has been telling parents who do not have online access at home that they can check grades at the public library or on break at work.</p><p>"It is a very important tool," he said.</p>